Waalo

Waalo was founded in 1287. The semi-legendary figure Ndiadiane Ndiaye, founder of the Jolof Empire was from this kingdom. Under Ndiadiane Ndiaye in the 14th century, Jolof made Waalo a vassal.[1]

The royal capital of Waalo was first Ndiourbel (Guribel) on the north bank of the Senegal River (in modern Mauritania), then Ndiangué on the south bank of the river. The capital was moved to Nder on the west shore of the Lac de Guiers.

In 1638, the French established the first permanent European trading settlement at the mouth of the Senegal River, later moving to the site of Saint-Louis in 1659, under consistent military and political pressure from the Brak.[2] The French presence would have a decisive effect on the rest of the history of Waalo.

Partly in response to the shift in trade away from Berber tribes to the French, Nasr ad-Din, a Berber Marabout, launched the Char Bouba War or the Marabout War, overthrowing the ruling aristocracy of Walo (among other Senegal river kingdoms) in an attempt to establish an Islamic theocracy. Upon his death in 1674, however, his movement collapsed and the old hierarchies, aligned with Arab Hassan tribes north of the river and vigorously supported by the French, re-asserted themselves.[3][4]

Economically benefiting from trade with the French, Waalo became de facto independent of the Jolof Empire in the mid 1600s, though the Brak continued to pay symbolic tribute to the Bourba Jolof until 1715.[5]

Waalo's relatively powerful position in the aftermath of the Marabout Wars dissolved towards the end of the 17th century in a period of civil war between rival aristocratic clans, a pattern that would repeat itself up until the kingdom's downfall.[6] In March 1724, the lord of Bethio Maalixuri, longtime intermediary between Brak Yerim Mbyanik, Saint-Louis, the neighboring kingdom of Cayor and the Emirate of Trarza, attempted to secede from the kingdom, but was defeated and exiled.[7]

Due to the English intervention during their occupation of Saint-Louis from 1758-1783 and recurring civil war, Waalo's power declined progressively in favor of the Moorish Emirate of Trarza in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[8]

To stop the cripplying Moorish raids and present a unified front against the French, the Lingeer Njembot Mbodj married the Emir of Trarza in 1833. Faced with an alliance that could cripple the colony, Saint Louis attacked Waalo, deepening the long-running crisis. Njembot Mbodj was succeeded by her sister Ndate Yalle in 1847, but the French finally conquered the kingdom in 1855. [9][10]

Waalo had a complicated political and social system, which has a continuing influence on Wolof culture in Senegal today, especially its highly formalized and rigid caste system. The kingdom was indirectly hereditary, ruled by three matrilineal families: the Logar, the Tedyek, and the Joos, all from different ethnic backgrounds. The Joos were of Serer origin. This Serer matriclan was established in Waalo by Lingeer Ndoye Demba of Sine. Her grandmother Lingeer Fatim Beye is the matriarch and early ancestor of this dynasty. These matrilineal families engaged in constant dynastic struggles to become "Brak" or king of Waalo, as well as warring with Waalo's neighbors. The royal title "Lingeer" means queen or royal princess, used by the Serer and Wolof. Several Lingeer, notably Njembot Mbodj and Ndaté Yalla Mbodj ruled Waalo in their own right or as regents.[11]

The Brak ruled with a kind of legislature, the Seb Ak Baor, over a complicated hierarchy of officials and dignitaries. Women had high positions and figured prominently in the political and military history.

Provinces were ruled by semi-independent Kangam, such as the Bethio. Shifting allegiances between these powerful nobles, the Brak, other kingdoms, and the French of Saint-Louis led to a series of civil wars.[12]

Waalo had its own traditional African religion. Islam was initially the province of the elite, but in the aftermath of Marabout War the ruling class increasingly rejected it while it become more and more widespread among the ruled. The Brak himself converted only in the 19th century.[13]

Waalo played an integral role in the slave trade in the Senegal river valley, with most captives coming from regions upriver, often captured in war or slaving raids. Other trade goods included gum arabic, leather, and ivory, as well as the foodstuffs, primarily millet upon which Saint-Louis depended.[14]

Waalo was paid fees for every boatload of gum arabic or slaves that was shipped on the river, in return for its "protection" of the trade.[15]

In all, Waalo had 52 kings since its founding. Names and dates taken from John Stewart's African States and Rulers (1989).[16]

• Translation from German Wikipedia: de:Waalo
• WORLD STATESMEN.org Senegal Traditional States
• Présentation du pays at the website of the national office of statistics, La République Islamique de Mauritanie : www.ons.mr.
• Ndete Yalla, dernière reine du Walo (Sénégal). Extrait du portrait de cette reine sénégalaise du 19e siècle que nous dresse Sylvia Serbin dans son ouvrage « Reines d’Afrique et héroïnes de la diaspora noire » (Editions Sépia) Par Sylvia Serbin.
• NDIOURBEL: Première capital du Waalo in Sites et Monuments historiques du Senegal, Center of Resources for the Emergence of Social Participation, Senegal.

• Barry, Boubacar. Le Royaume du Waalo Le Sénégal avant la Conquête" François Maspéro. 393 pages. Paris 1972.
• Barry, Boubacar. 'The Subordination of Power and Mercantile Economy: The Kingdom of Waalo 1600-1831 "in The Political Economy of Under-Development, Dependence in Senegal by Rita Cruise O'Brien (Ed.) Sage Series on African Mod. and Dev., Vol. 3. California. pp. 39–63.